“The companies are talking and we’re looking forward to at
least a memorandum-of-understanding agreement quite soon,”
Neverovic said today in an interview in Krynica, Poland. “We
need to see a win-win situation, with benefits for Mazeikiu,
Orlen and also for Klaipedos Nafta.”

The government in the past opposed plans by Poland’s
largest oil company to build a product pipeline from its
Lithuanian refinery to the Baltic port of Klaipeda. Now it’s
ready to reconsider if PKN Orlen ensures benefits for Klaipedos
Nafta, which is 72 percent state owned, and invests to expand
its Lithuanian unit, Orlen Lietuva AB, Neverovic said.

Development plans for Orlen Lietuva, which runs Mazeikiu
and is Lithuania’s biggest company by revenue, “go hand in
hand” with approval for the pipeline, the minister said. A
memorandum on the project’s terms probably will be signed by the
end of the year, he said.